Imphal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stones for multiple infrastructure projects in Assam, including the Guwahati Ring Road, a Brahmaputra bridge, and a medical college in Darrang, while accusing the Congress of ignoring the sentiments of the Assamese people during its time in power.
Addressing a public meeting in Mangaldai of Assam’s Darrang district on Sunday, Modi accused the Congress of allowing illegal immigration and enabling encroachment of land belonging to locals when the party was in power. He also criticised the party leadership for questioning the Centre’s move to confer the Bharat Ratna on Assam’s legendary singer Bhupen Hazarika in January 2019.
“You all should always be aware of the Congress, as they can push the country’s interests back for their vote-bank politics. When they were in power, they used to take an anti-national stance and encourage illegal immigration,” Modi said.
He reminded the gathering about Mangaldai’s association with the Assam Agitation (1979–85) against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. “After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)/National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power, we are taking action against those encroachers, and the state government here has started a campaign to free those lands,” Modi said.
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{{/usCountry}}Modi recalled that following the Centre’s decision to confer the country’s highest civilian honour on Hazarika in January 2019, Mallikarjun Kharge, who was the leader of the opposition at that time, had allegedly termed the move a very sad development. “I was reminded last night by (Assam) CM Sarma (Himanta Biswa Sarma) about a past incident. The day the government at the Centre had decided to bestow the Bharat Ratna on Bhupen Hazarika, the (present) Congress president had expressed sorrow that someone connected with songs and dance was conferred the honour,” he said.
“I can tolerate any number of insults hurled at me... But when someone else is abused unashamedly, I can’t tolerate it. You tell me, was it wrong to confer the Bharat Ratna on Bhupen Hazarika? Wasn’t it wrong for the Congress to question our decision?” he said.
The PM said that Assam’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of over 13% was among the highest in the country and that it was the outcome of the “double engine” of BJP governments — both at the Centre and in the state — which is why the party has been securing support of voters in all elections since 2016.
The PM urged the gathering to buy only swadeshi (products made in India) so that the country can become a developed nation by 2047, when it will celebrate 100 years of Independence from British rule.
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The 118.5-km-long Guwahati Ring Road project is worth ₹4,530 crore, while the 2.9-km-long bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Kuruwa (Darrang) with Narengi (Guwahati) is worth ₹1,200 crore. The 430-bedded medical college and hospital with a GNM school and a nursing college in Darrang are worth ₹570 crore.
Later in the afternoon, Modi will inaugurate the world’s first second-generation bio-ethanol plant using bamboo feedstock at Numaligarh (256 km from Guwahati) in Golaghat district. The plant, with a capacity to produce 50 kilotons per annum (KTPA) of fuel-grade ethanol, is worth ₹5,000 crore.
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Modi is also scheduled to lay the foundation stone of a polypropylene plant, which will be built at a cost of ₹7,230 crore and will have a capacity to produce 360 KTPA of the thermoplastic polymer.
“Can you recollect if projects worth ₹18,000 crore were ever gifted to Assam on a single day by previous Congress governments? It is only PM Modi who has given us such projects,” said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while addressing the gathering in Mangaldai.